moderation team

Moderation team objectives

Moderation tools:

Moderators have access to tools that allow them to:

editing a post (content, visibility)

deleting a post

editing a thread (title, visibility, tags, groups)

deleting a thread

make sticky posts

Moderators code of conduct:

Please note that this is a guide only. Moderators should try to follow it as much as possible, but something unpredictable can happen. Moderators need to use their discretion/instinct at all times. Exceptional situations might call for a course of action that hasn't been discussed yet (but which will be used later to update this wiki accordingly...)

A Moderator should follow this decisional tree: http://www.pourquoi-pas.info/bw/moderation_decisional_tree.jpg

A moderator should never edit or delete a thread/post if he is directly concerned

Except if the post is obviously not respecting the forum Rules and Guidelines (commercial spam, insult, racism, showing personal information about another member, ...), a moderator should not edit or delete a thread/post without consulting other moderators first. At least 50% + 1 of the currently active moderators have to agree before editing or deleting a post. "Active moderators" mean "moderator who gave their opinion in the report page, or in the dedicated thread in the moderation forum within 120 hours ".

Except in obvious cases (see above), moderators should contact the member before editing a post, asking the member to edit it himself, leaving the member 24 hours if it's a somewhat severe issue or 72 hours if it's a not very severe issue. When asking a member to edit its post, moderator has to check if the member still have the right to do so. If not, moderator has to give back the right to edit using the moderation pannel.

A moderator should leave a visible comment to explain the reason for editing a thread/post by referring to the appropriate forum rule or guideline.

A moderator should keep a track of any deleted thread and post by adding a link in the dedicated thread in the Moderation private group, so that all moderators can easily keep track of previously deleted thread/post.

A moderator should not close a report if it was open less than 120 hours before or if the last comment in the report or in the related thread is less than 120 hours.

Moderator are member before all. Therefore, when writing on the forum, they are always doing so as forum member, unless they specify the opposite, by using MOD/MOD tags.

In case of problem with (a) moderator(s):

Respect the forum rules, specially the following part: " (e) That moderators are the authority in the forum and hence have the last word in any and all disputes in the forum. Public rallying against moderator decisions will not be tolerated."

This rule doesn't mean that moderators are always right. As humans, and even as a team of humans, they can make mistake. If you think they made one, contact one of the moderator in private, and try to find a compromise, in a respectful way.

A user should not edit a post after it has been edited by a moderator.

You can also contact the Board of Directors or the BW Ombudsperson if you can't find a compromise with the moderation team.

Transparency

Moderators should always leave a trace when editing a post.

Decisions on any action following a member report should always be recorded in the report.

Issues requiring discussion/decisions should be identified and recorded in the Moderator Group threads and be available subsequently (e.g. to the Ombudsperson).

Ombudsperson

Is the link between members and moderation

Is a member of BeVolunteer

Has access to the Moderation Team private forum and reports

Can see deleted thread and post

Does not have any moderation power

The Ombudsperson can be contacted: http://www.bewelcome.org/wiki/Ombudsperson

Recruiting moderator

Anyone can apply to be a moderator

Moderator can suggest new moderators

New moderator are selected by the whole moderator team

Banning a member

a member gets a warning if 50% + 1 of the currently active moderators ask for it

any moderator can ask for a warning

member is banned for 3/7/30/365 days if already warned and 50% + 1 of the currently active moderators agree with the ban.

Emergency banning

every moderator should have the right to "emergency ban" a member

emergency ban is 24 hours max

a moderator should not give an emergency ban to the same member twice in a row

emergency ban should be used only in a very specific way (new member who is obviously just a spamming machine, a member who already get at least a warning and doesn't change his behaviour in any way).

a first warning should be send to the member: "stop immediately acting this way"

emergency ban should be used only in case of flaming (lots of posts causing problem)

only one or two post should not be a reason for an emergency ban

if 50% + 1 of the moderation team think that the moderator made a mistake, this moderator get a warning

after a second warning, a vote must be held to decide if the moderator can stay in the moderation team.

a third warning should result in a temporary or permanent removal from the moderation team